Or they sell stock to fund their big fat Greek weddings. Or to settle their messy divorces (oil tycoon Harold Hamm settled with his ex for $974,790,317.77).

But Mitek Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: MITK) insiders have steadily unloaded massive amounts of stock since November - when the share price began rocketing by some 170 percent to the current ~$9 per share ... ah, yes, maybe the peak before the plunge.

Altogether in that timeframe, Mitek insiders have dumped about $9 million worth of company stock.

That's right. And that's why insider selling tops TheStreetSweeper's list of seven good reasons we think Mitek stock is poised to flip faster than Madonna in her famous on-stage nose-dive. Investors may also find other viewpoints on Mitek, the San Diego-based mobile imaging technology and software provider here.

*1. Insiders Yell: "Sell! Sell! Sell!"

Insiders' trading trigger fingers started getting itchy when the stock run really picked up speed back in November 2015:

It could suggest that insiders may be losing faith in their company's future, may understand something the rest of us don't or may be wanting to sell at the peak before the stock breaks down.

*2. Company's Intellectual Property: Weak

A chief worry about Mitek goes straight to the foundation of its business. The intellectual property is weak.

Here's why ...

A. The company thought so little of its own IP that it withdrew its patent infringement lawsuit.

"Let 'em have it," Mitek essentially said in 2014 after dropping the lawsuit against Top Image (TISA), explaining that "the cost of litigating the case would be higher than any potential financial benefit to Mitek."

Both parties agreed to cover their respective legal costs. That was it. Settlement reached.

Top Image stated: "Mitek realized that their case against TIS (Top Image) was weak and their patent portfolio was ineffective."

USAA customers may use the mobile app "with a tap of their smartphone camera and a blink when prompted (to prove they're a live person and not a photo). USAA is also giving members the option of logging in with a spoken phrase," wrote reputed trade publication American Banking.

This leads us to something bigger ... and more ominous from Mitek's viewpoint.

*4.The Big Picture: Watch The Crowd

The USAA story demonstrates the bigger picture. Much bigger.

USAA worked with Daon software to develop its product. And Daon, developer of the facial recognition and fingerprint technology, has been working with numerous large banks.

In fact, in March 2016, Daon began providing its mobile fingerprint and facial recognition technology to MasterCard. A MasterCard vice president said online shoppers can look forward to a rollout of "Identity Check this summer in the U.S., Canada and the UK.”

Many companies are running off on their own and hiring companies like Daon to help craft their own mobile technology ... in-house.

*5. IDChecker: Over-Rated, Faces Fierce Competitors

Mitek followed USAA's lead into the ID verification space for financial institutions on May 26, 2015, with the $10.6 million acquisition of IDchecker.

Incredibly, a business that can be expected to perform only like a minor $10 million company somehow initiated Mitek's stock run-up.

As the months passed, Mitek rose from a $90 million valuation to a completely unjustifiable $292 million. The market absolutely missed vital signs of what has been growing right up in front of Mitek ... honking big competition .... and oh so gentle barriers to entry for those competitors or potential clients in this area.

Bottom line: Fierce competitors are getting into this biz fairly easily and they're running all over each other to attract customers.

*6. OMG: Stock's Too Expensive

Mitek’s lofty stock price places shareholders in a squirmy, uncomfortable position. Shareholders in the stock now would be paying three times more for a company with one-quarter the revenue offered by the industry overall.

(Source: Yahoo Finance)

And Mitek stockholders who considered getting in at the recent levels would surely turn and dash away when it hits them ... they're paying triple what shareholders in comparable companies pay for earnings.

So the stock appears to be outrageously overpriced at a price-to-earnings ratio exceeding … 131!

*7. Execs: Living Like Kings

Company executives reported net income last quarter of $582,000 or 2 cents per share, according to the company filing. The company had endured two years of operating losses, finally generating net income in 2015. Indeed, Mitek has now accumulated more than $33 million in losses.

And while integrating IDchecker may increase their challenges significantly more this year than last, executives were well enough compensated in 2015 that they could have ground up hundred dollar bills to sprinkle over their scrambled eggs every morning.

So, altogether, we think Mitek stock will bobble and stumble by about 50 percent in the near-term. Even then the company would be unlikely to justify such a high valuation.

* Important Disclosure: The owners of TheStreetSweeper hold a short position in MITK and stand to profit on any future declines in the stock price.

* Editor's Note: As a matter of policy, TheStreetSweeper prohibits members of its editorial team from taking financial positions in the companies that they cover. To contact Sonya Colberg, the author of this story, please send an email to scolberg@thestreetsweeper.org.